Curators make many decisions when they build collections or design exhibitions, plotting a passage of discovery that also tells an essential story. Collecting captures the past in a way useful to the present and the future. Exhibits play to our senses and orchestrate our impressions, balancing presentation and preservation, information and emotion. Curators consider visitors’ interactions with objects and with one another, how our bodies move through displays, how our eyes grasp objects, how we learn and how we feel. Inside the Lost Museum documents the work museums do and suggests ways these institutions can enrich the educational and aesthetic experience of their visitors. Woven throughout Inside the Lost Museum is the story of the Jenks Museum at Brown University, a nineteenth-century display of natural history, anthropology, and curiosities that disappeared a century ago. The Jenks Museum’s past, and a recent effort by artist Mark Dion, Steven Lubar, and their students to reimagine it as art and history, serve as a framework for exploring the long record of museums’ usefulness and service. Museum lovers know that energy and mystery run through every collection and exhibition. Lubar explains work behind the scenes—collecting, preserving, displaying, and using art and artifacts in teaching, research, and community-building—through historical and contemporary examples. Inside the Lost Museum speaks to the hunt, the find, and the reveal that make curating and visiting exhibitions and using collections such a rewarding and vital pursuit.
True tales of lost art, built around case studies of famous works, their creators, and stories of disappearance and recovery From the bestselling author of The Art of Forgery comes this dynamic narrative that tells the fascinating stories of artworks stolen, looted, or destroyed in war, accidentally demolished or discarded, lost at sea or in natural disasters, or attacked by iconoclasts or vandals; works that were intentionally temporal, knowingly destroyed by the artists themselves or their patrons, covered over with paint or plaster, or recycled for their materials. An exciting read that spans the centuries and the continents.
Few beyond the insider realize that museums own millions of objects the public never sees. In Lost in the Museum, Nancy Moses takes the reader behind the Oemployees onlyO doors to uncover the stories buried—along with the objects—in the crypts of museums, historical societies, and archives. Moses discovers the actual birds shot, stuffed, and painted by John James Audubon, AmericaOs most beloved bird artist; a spear that abolitionist John Brown carried in his quixotic quest to free the slaves; and the skull of a prehistoric Peruvian child who died with scurvy. She takes the reader to Ker-Feal, the secret farmhouse that Albert Barnes of the Barnes Foundation filled with fabulous American antiques and that was then left untouched for more than fifty years. Weaving the stories of the object, its original owner, and the often idiosyncratic institution where the object resides, the book reveals the darkest secret of the cultural world: the precarious balance of art, culture, and politics that keep items, for decades, lost in the museum.
Presents an interactive history of the human imagination, separated by the seven stages of alchemical process, encouraging readers to question their understanding of life and the way in which imagination is quantified.
Find out where the tooth fairy takes all those lost teeth in this laugh-out-loud new picture book, perfect for fans of School’s First Day of School Toothy lives in Liam's mouth next to his best friend Fang. He’s a good tooth—sparkly and strong, and he loves doing the floss. One day, Toothy notices that he is loose and panics! Where will he go after he leaves his comfy spot next to Fang? After a crunchy apple seals the deal, Toothy is tucked under Liam's pillow. When the Tooth Fairy appears, she takes Toothy to the Museum of Lost Teeth. It’s a more incredible place than Toothy could have ever imagined. It’s filled with new friends and fun activities like Tooth or Dare! Toothy finds a new home on the Firsts Floor, where first baby teeth are proudly displayed. In the tradition of School’s First Day of School, The Museum of Lost Teeth answers the question "Where do all the lost teeth go?" in this unexpected and hilarious picture book.
Join the adventure when the lights go out in the toy museum!One night, when the lights go out at the toy museum, everyone runs off and hides. Left all on his own, Bunting, the sensible old toy cat, sets out to look for them. As he follows the trail of clues through the museum, the normally reserved Bunting learns how to have fun in this affectionate picture book from one of Britain's brightest new talents.
Minnie and Daisy's class is going on a field trip to the Moushattan Museum of History. Minnie is really excited because she loves art and history; Daisy thinks it's going to be a snoozefest. When they get to the museum, their history teacher announces that the students will be doing a scavenger hunt. They have a list of questions to solve, and the answers can be found in the museum's exhibits. The first team to finish with correct answers will get extra credit toward their history grade! The hunt is going fine, until Daisy suggests that she and Minnie split up. She thinks they can divide and conquer, and she really wants to win because her history grade is suffering. Minnie sets off in search of a famous painting and Daisy heads out to the Bumblebeegypt room. They are supposed to meet back at the lobby, but when Daisy doesn't show up, Minnie is worried. Is Daisy lost? Will she get back in time--and with the correct answer--so they can win the scavenger hunt?
